The biting wind whipped Xiao Chen’s robes, snapping them like battle flags. His black hair streamed wildly behind him, and his chiseled face, sharp as a blade, was set in an expression of cold resolve. The light in his eyes cut through the air like drawn steel. At that moment, his tall, powerful figure seared itself into the memory of every onlooker—demonic, almost monstrous.
"Heavens, what am I seeing?!"
"Impossible!"
"A divine dragon protecting his body—unbelievable!"
The opposite snow peak erupted in chaos.
Trapped on Dragon Island, every cultivator had been pushing themselves to the limit. Survival demanded progress—stagnation meant death. All knew that on this savage land, strength alone was the final truth. In recent days, nearly everyone had advanced, not just Xiao Chen. Each had labored far harder than before.
Yet when the crowd saw the dragon shadow coiling around Xiao Chen, their awe was laced with envy. That spectral sight spoke vividly of his staggering progress.
But they were overthinking. Even Xiao Chen himself did not understand why it had happened. The phantom dragon that had wound around him was gone. When he tried to summon it again, the luminous beast did not reappear.
He pondered in silence. Perhaps it had been a sudden release of concentrated energy upon breaking into the sixth layer of Mortal-Shedding. Since his breakthrough, he had remained in a state of ethereal stillness—until the crowd's hostility stirred him. The dragon force latent in his divinely transformed acupoints had burst forth, triggered by his emotional surge, creating that miraculous sight.
He had always known that his divinely transformed acupoints would one day reveal their power. This might be an early manifestation of future divine arts.
Xiao Chen and the gathered cultivators stood on separate snow peaks, facing each other across the void. Abruptly, the world fell silent. Morning sunlight spilled over the icy spires, and the primordial energy of heaven and earth flowed softly. The earlier tension and clamor gradually gave way to a fragile peace.
"Xiao Chen! Hand over the dragon egg!" A sudden shout pierced the quiet—clearly a planted voice. Similar cries rose from other directions, seven or eight voices stoking the flames.
Xiao Chen’s eyes blazed. The peaks were close; he clearly identified several faces. Three belonged to the Alliance of Nature founded by Yalode of the Forest Clan, and three to the Treefolk Valley Alliance founded by the Royal Celestial Maiden Zhao Lin'er.
Clearly, they did not truly covet the dragon egg. Yalode and Zhao Lin'er aimed to incite the crowd against him. Humans were prone to blind following. Though most remained levelheaded, a minority were roused to bellow alongside the agitators.
"Hand over the dragon egg!"
"The dragon egg belongs to all!"
"Don't think you can keep it for yourself!"
Xiao Chen raised his right hand. A massive light-palm, condensed from pure divine radiance, shot into the ice cave behind him and seized the shattered Lion King Dragon Egg. He hurled it with savage force toward the opposite peak.
Infused with his qi, the golden shell burst into blinding radiance—a shower of shooting stars raining down on the far snow peak.
"This is the dragon egg you want," Xiao Chen called out. "I already ate it for breakfast. If you want one, go fetch it from the dragon's nest yourself. Why expect to gain without labor?"
The translucent shell fragments glittered like fine jade, no longer dazzling as when whole, but still shimmering with an otherworldly luster. Clearly, they had once held a treasure beyond price.
The crowd was stunned. The man had destroyed such a rarity—he had… eaten the dragon egg! The thought was maddening. He had devoured a future dragon!
Soon, they believed him. The shell was cracked by force, not by hatching, for bits of frozen egg white clung to the jade-like shards.
Everyone felt like vomiting blood. Xiao Chen was driving them to madness—eating dragon eggs like ordinary fare! Even gods did not indulge so extravagantly!
"Xiao Chen, you bastard!"
"Xiao Chen, that's too far!"
Someone even cursed him as a "wastrel." Deep hatred filled their voices. A dragon egg! Eaten for breakfast!
"I retrieved that dragon egg at the risk of my life. How I consume it is my own affair. If you want one, go get your own."
The crowd was incensed. Even those who had not come for the egg felt their blood pressure spike. Who wanted to eat it? The man actually thought they were here for the pleasure of eating dragon egg. Everyone agreed Xiao Chen was deliberately provoking them.
"Xiao Chen, you're a monster!"
"Xiao Chen—do you think you're a god, eating dragon eggs like that?!"
Chaos reigned on the opposite peak. Agents of Yalode and Zhao Lin'er continued to stir the crowd.
"Someone saw Xiao Chen take more than one dragon egg. There are definitely more in the ice cave behind him."
"Make him hand over the rest!"
"Hand over the dragon eggs! They belong to everyone!"
Xiao Chen turned to the three skeletons behind him. "Take the eggs and retreat into the deep snow mountains." Though he had never before planned to raise a dragon, the pressure from the crowd now made the thought tempting.
The skeletons did not move. They stood silently, watching him.
Xiao Chen shook his head. "You're not needed here. If I want to withdraw, no one can stop me. What matters is that the eggs we risked everything for are not taken."
The skeletons hesitated no longer. Soul-light blazed through their bones, making them gleam like translucent jade. They dashed into the ice cave, emerged clutching the radiant dragon eggs, and shattered the ice wall on the far side, fleeing toward the northern slope.
"Keke, you leave too." Xiao Chen called to the little creature rolling in the snow behind him.
Keke showed no awareness of the coming battle. It played like an innocent child, shaking its head like a chubby snowman, blinking its large eyes at Xiao Chen.
"Keke, don't you want to eat something delicious? Don't you want your round little belly to stop being so full?"
"Ya-ya…" Keke huffed indignantly, then curled its plump body into a snowball and rolled straight down the peak after the skeletons.
On the opposite peak, the crowd had only seen the skeletons enter the cave; they did not know the skeletons had already retreated from the rear.
"Everyone charge together—what are you waiting for!" The hidden voices resumed their incitement. But no one took the first step. The recent avalanche had been too shocking; no one wanted to die a pointless death in another.
"There's nothing to fear. The loose snow has already fallen. Together, charge!" At last, someone stepped forward. Where one led, others followed. Dozens of cultivators rushed toward Xiao Chen's peak.
Xiao Chen knew words were useless against such men. Everyone understood the truth. Only one solution remained: kill. He stared coldly at the charging practitioners, his gaze sharp as a blade, sweeping across each face. But he did not see Yan Qingcheng or the others among them.
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